Amy Chua is the author of Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother which was released in 2011. A brief part of her book was written in an article called “Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior,” where she discusses the high expectations that she held her children to. Chua discusses how her very demanding standards would ensure that her children live up to their full potential. Although Chua makes a great argument, she leaves out information that could have helped strengthen her argument and she doesn’t seem to know all of her facts.
During Chua’s article, she discusses how her children Sophia and Louisa had to abide by many rules that “western parents,” would consider absurd. They were never allowed to “watch TV or play computer games,” “not play the piano or violin,” ”choose their extracurricular activities,” etc. Chua, along with many other Chinese mothers, believes that setting these strict rules would help her children to reach their full potential later on in life. In order for Sophia and Louisa to be able to do this, they would have to undergo multiple hours of studying and practicing the piano and violin, the instruments their mother chose for them to play. According to Chua, “The first hour is the easy part. It’s hours two and three that get tough”(Chua 261).
However, if the children didn’t meet their mother’s high expectations, they would be referred to by patronizing words such as “garbage”. Chua never hesitated to speak down to her children when they were disrespectful or when
In the writing of, America’s Top Parent, Elizabeth Kolbert outlines the parenting strategies of different mothers. Most notably, she talks about the “Chinese Mother,” which does not technically mean this individual must be of Chinese descent. Throughout the essay, Kolbert talks about another essay, Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother. The author of that essay, Amy Chua, believes in a binary world. Meaning that there are two kinds of mothers, “Chinese Mothers”, and “Western” mothers. Chinese mothers believe in extreme parenting, whereas Western mothers “think they are being strict when they insist that their children practice their instruments for half an hour a day” (Kolbert). On the other hand, Chinese mothers have much more specific rules
In discussions about raising children in different cultures between Chinese and Western families, Chinese mothers and Western mothers raise their children differently from each other. Amy Chua, in her essay entitled “How Chinese Mothers Are Superior,” argues that Chinese mothers are extremely more strict and harsh when it comes to parenting their children’s self-esteem while Chinese mothers do not while they assume “strength, not fragility” from their children. She also believes that it is necessary to limit the children in their daily lives in order to achieve greatness and honor to their family. Amy Chua is led to this conclusion due to research and examples of her own life as a Chinese daughter as well. My own view on the issue is that Chinese
In “Adapted from Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother” author Amy Chua argues that, instead of constantly praising a child for the slightest success, parents should only expect perfection from their children and nothing less. She explains that Western parents are not as strict on their children as Chinese parents are. That Western parents don’t believe in stressing educational success and that education should be something fun. In contrast, Chinese parents believe that academic success is very important and to get good at something it takes practice and hard work which may not seem fun at first but in the long run the activity becomes fun once mastered. Chua also believes that Chinese parents can get away with things that Western parents cannot such as calling their child garbage after being misbehaved. Chua states three main differences between Western parents and Chinese parents.
“In one study of 50 Western American mothers and 48 Chinese immigrant mothers, almost 70% of the Western mothers said either that ‘stressing academic success is not good for children’ or that ‘parents need to foster the idea that learning is fun.’ By contrast, roughly 0% of the Chinese mothers felt the same way. Instead, the vast majority of the Chinese mothers said that they believe their children can be ‘the best’ students, that ‘academic achievement reflects successful parenting,’ and that if children did not excel at school then there was ‘a problem’ and parents ‘were not doing their job.’ … Chinese parents spend approximately ten times as long every day drilling academic activities with their children. By contrast, Western kids are
In Amy Chua’s article “Why Chinese Moms are Superior”, she explains what she thinks is the correct way to raise children. Being based on her book, Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother, written in 2011, it does not encompass the entire writing but rather, focuses on the main ideas from the original text. This is not Chau’s only accomplishment as she has written multiple books, including: The World on Fire: How Exporting Free Market Democracy Breeds Ethnic Hatred and Global Instability, Day of Empire: How Hyperpowers Rise to Global Dominance-and Why They Fall, and the text of the current topic. She also is a Harvard Law graduate. Being raised this way by her own mother is most likely the reason behind
In the article, “Adapted From Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother,” Amy Chua, the author, gave some very valid points about how Western children and Chinese children are raised very diversely. Chinese parents are more strict and Western parents are more laid back. Most of the authors points that she made were backed up with statics so they were reliable and valid. There were just a few she didn't back up it was just her opinion. The statements about how the Chinese mothers raise their children are not agreeable or realistic. In all the authors article was valid and had some great points.
In the article “Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior” the author Amy Chua believes that by not allowing their kids to do a lot of things that normal children can do, Chinese mothers produce the smartest children. Some of the things they don’t allow their children to do are attend sleepovers, be in a school play, get a grade less than an A, and choose their own extracurricular activities. Chinese mothers are not superior but abusive because their methods seem to seclude them from learning the communication skills needed for success in their child's adulthood, it can hinder the relationship they have with their children, and can sometimes lead their children to develop thoughts of suicide.
Questions have been raised on whether Chinese parenting raises more flourishing children than Western parenting. Despite what people think, in Amy Chua's essay “The Roar of the Tiger Mom”, she portrays the differences between the beliefs of Chinese parenting and Western parenting. Chua introduces the views of a Chinese parent compared to the views of a Western parent. The methods used by Chinese mothers in raising their children are drastically different from Western mothers. Each defends their methods and believes the other group is doing their job poorly. In the end, both types of parents just want one thing-- successful children.
In the article,” Why Chinese Mothers are Superior," author Amy Chua describes how parenting is approached in Chinese culture as compared to "Western parents." She compares Western and Chinese parents on how they approach their children’s' upbringings. She gives examples from her experiences raising her own daughters. Chua's daughters were not allowed to attend sleepovers and could not score grades any lower than an "A" in school classes. Chua also forced her kids in learning a piece for the piano. In separate story, author Amy Tan discusses the mother-daughter relationship in Chinese-American culture in "Two Kinds." This story is told from the viewpoint of an American-born Chinese girl named Jing-mei. Her immigrant mother, Mrs. Woo, believes that being in America is freedom and wants her daughter to take advantage of that freedom. Her mother has her try several activities in an attempt to
It is true that the ways the parents raise their children will decide how well the children grow, especially the mothers who impact their children the most. There is no right or wrong in how a mother takes care of her children. All of them want the best for their children. The only difference is the level of intensity in how to raise a child. In Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior, Amy Chua, a professor at Yale Law School believes that the ways Chinese mothers raise their children are the most effective ways. Her main purpose of this article is to state the differences between Western mothers and Chinese mothers which
What does it mean to be American? The American identity has always been a complicated discussion. It is by nature identified by diversity. Many think it has to do with the birthplace of the person and others think it has to do with their inheritance. In 2011, Amy Chua published Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother as a memoir. Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother presents the evolution of this American woman. The elements of Chuas evolution seemed to involve; native identity; inherited identity; resisted identity and resolved identity.
Emotions are expressed immediately at the beginning of the writing to have his readers grasp his feelings of the situation. Goldstein compares Chua’s “Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother” a “depiction of Chinese-style extreme parenting” (Goldstein 272). He then continues to maintain the reader’s attention by explaining Chua’s parenting skills by addressing the fact how the children cannot have play dates, or even watch television. Goldstein inspires his readers by giving individual’s personal experiences that reflect how they became successful.
Amy Chua, a professor at Yale Law School, the author of “The World on Fire”, “Day of Empire”, and “Why They Fall”, in a Wall street Journal on January 8th, 2011, believes chinese mothers are the most rigorous on their children. The title of the article “Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior” was not chosen by Amy, but by the Wall Street Journal. Even though Amy did not write the title, there is reasoning that she does believe that chinese parenting is superior. Everyone is wondering how their children excel above everyone else. Thesis…
In “Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior”, the author Amy Chua stated that every parent, whatever race they are, has their own way of raising their children. Chua brought up some examples in her essay, and she believes that Chinese parents want better for their children, and Western parents are the same way. First the children are involved in different activities. Chua included a study in the essay, which said, “Western children participate in sports, while Chinese parents make their kids practice academic activities” (142-143). Secondly, Chinese parents
On January 27, an article was published, “Why Chinese Mothers are Superior” by the Wall Street Journal. It brought attention and promotes extreme controversy. Chua sparked debates over the differences in parenting styles of American and Chinese heritages. “Chinese Mothers” used in a broad statement and “Western Mothers” used for every other party. Americans began to raise questions. Chua’s article referring to herself as a Tiger mother stands to have both negative comments and some positive.